Behavioral, Social and Psychological Factors Affecting Mating Time and Breeding Efficiency in Sheep

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Abstract
Many important facts which are pertinent to more efficient breeding management of sheep have been discussed in this paper. It has been clearly shown that there is some psychic stimulus to ovulation and subsequent estrus associated with the introduction of the ram during the period of the year when all ewes are not cycling normally. This stimulus is not evident when the ram runs continuously with ewes. Certain rams dominate or “boss” other rams. This can have important physiologic and genetic implications. Certain other rams refuse to mate estrual ewes after repeated short-interval exposures. When placed with ewes, 65% of these sexually inhibited rams had not begun mating estrual ewes within 24 hr. Seventeen percent had to be removed from breeding for failure to breed within 8 or 9 days. The average fertility of inhibited rams was 76%, compared with 93% for normal rams. Lambing dates of ewes mated to inhibited rams were also later than for ewes mated to normal rams. Copyright © 1966. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1966 by American Society of Animal Science

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